Suzuki Roshi once said that we practice sitting to be “ready for anything.” In Nina’s improvisation classes, we’ll learn Motion Theater® practices that allow the creativity that resides within us to have a voice, both through movement and language. In meditation, we will cultivate openness, receptivity and fearlessness, particularly the courage and clarity to express what needs to be expressed. This workshop will provide a safe space to take up this transformative work of self-discovery and self-expression. Using yoga, sounding, movement, and other exercises, we’ll cultivate our capacity to tell our story and bring to life what is often unnoticed or unacknowledged, finding the freedom that comes from expressing ourselves through our bodies as well as our words.

An excellent workshop for performers, teachers, leaders, and anyone for whom communication is central. You can expect to surprise yourself and to become more playful and at ease before an audience. You might even find that the sense of well-being achieved during the workshop not only expands your creative abilities but also enhances your experience of daily life, reminding you that it is your nature to be free—and to express that freedom spontaneously.

Nina WiseNina Wise is an artist who has invented a compelling form of physical autobiographical theater. She is a teacher of improvisation and also teaches contemplative practice at Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Her performance works have garnered seven Bay Area Critics’ Circle Awards, and she has received, among other prestigious honors, three National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. She wrote the book, A Big New Free Happy Unusual Life.

Yo-on Jeremy LevieYo-on Jeremy Levie currently serves as Head of Practice (Tanto) at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. Having begun Zen practice in 1994, he has practiced in residence at each of San Francisco Zen Center’s three temples over the last 18 years. He was ordained by Eijun Linda Cutts in 2005, was Shuso in 2009, and has served on the SFZC Board of Directors.